Knitting machine



Ma 7, 1940. H, LAWSON 2,199,636.

- KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 31, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGZ.

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EYE/V702: EOBEET/7ZAWJOM.

May 7, 1940.

R. H. LAWSON KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 31, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 mil/5mm. PwzETHMH/JWZ ATTy.

Ma 7, 1940. I ON 2.199.636

KNITTING MACHINE F iled Dec. 31, 1935 s Sheets-Sheet s \\M w m Min T011;

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position where they may be engaged by another cam or cams and thereby controlled for knitting or tucking, or some other function incident to the production of fabric having therein varied stitches. In the embodiment herein disclosed the jacks are raised a slight amount as before described, and then another butt upon said jack is engaged by a second cam which may or may not be integral or attached to the selector device. As herein shown, and according to the preferred form of my invention, this cam which operates uponthe instrumentalities after they have been selected is attached to and functions as a portion of the assembly shown. The cam I6 is constructed to depend from an arm ll mounted for operation in a bracket I8. The details of said cam and bracket and the manner in which it is arranged to swing from operative position in the event of a jack passing through at a proper level will be described later. 7

A bracket l9 having two extending arms 20 and 2i projecting therefrom is adjustably at-- tached on one side of the rear upright 3. A plate 22 is secured to this bracket I9 by means of suitable connection, this plate having a pair of adjusting screws 23 extending therethrough and abutting against the upright. The bracket is slotted for attachment by means of bolts or screws to the side of said upright 3 and when it has been adjusted to the proper radial position by means of screws 23, is to be secured to said upright by tightening the screws passing through the slots in the bracket, these slots and screws being illustrated at 24 and 25, Fig. 5. A spring 28-is placed under the head of "each screw 23 for the purpose of keeping it from' vibrating loose. A locking element 21 is hinged to swing about pivots 28 and 29 in the ends of arms 20 and 2|, this locking element being employed for holding plungers in their operative positions and also for maintaining the inoperative plungers locked in that position. This locking element is composed of a vertically extending portion 30 from which a pair of elements 3i and 32 extend to pass between arms 20 and 2| being hinged thereto at pivots 28 and 29. The vertical portion '30 has a hardened contact piece 33 attached to the inner side thereof for engaging with the plungers. This locking element is normally held in a position to press plungers inwardly against the needle cylinder or the jacks therein by means of a spring 34 which is attached at one end to a pin 35 and at the other end to anotherpin 36 which passes through elements 3|, 32 of the locking member.

This spring will hold plungers in as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, the distance inward to which said plunger will be pushed is limited by a shoulder 31 which butts up against adjustable plate 22. The adjustment as accomplished by means of screw M was for the purpose of properly positioning the entire assembly so that cam- I6 would lie at just the proper distance from the cylinder to properly engage the butt on the jack or other instrumentality which is to ride up said cam. After this general positioning of the whole assembly has been obtained, screws 23 may be employed to adjust the inward position of plungers so that they will engage the selecting butts of the jacks or other instrumentalities in the most eflicient manner.

The plungers which are not to be projected inwardly for engaging selector butts are pulled outwardly as shown in Fig. 5 until they extend to theside of locking element 2?, more specifically' the hardened portion 33 thereof, and in this position can not return to an operative position due to a shoulder 38 being in engagement with .tlie'upright 3. The plunger is grooved or recessedon one side to form shoulder 31 the purpose of which has been previously mentioned, and

on the other side, to provide a shoulder 38 and another opposedshoulder 39; this latter shoulder 39 prohibits any plungers from being pulled outwardly beyond certain definite limits. Each of the plungers is provided with a notch 40 which is for the purpose of being engaged by a hooked instrument as the knitter pulls said plunger or plungers outwardly in setting up his pattern. a In case all of the plungers wereto berpulled out, thus eliminating all possibilities of selection for a particular knitting station, the lock 2'! will swing into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 5 wherein all of the said plungers will be locked in the inactive position. a

Each of the plungers has its forward end bev eled as shown in Figs. 3 and 6 so that thesawtooth butts may pass between plungers without interference. In this manner it is possible to use more plungers in a given space than it would be if said plungers were spaced apart far enough to allow the butts to pass between. Figs. 10 and 11 indicate the manner in which a jack is raised throughout a slight extent by one of the plungers just prior'to the time when it would contact one of the raising cams. It is not possible to return a plunger which has been moved'from an inner position to an outer position where it is locked by means of element 21, without swinging that latter element away from the end of the plungers so that the shoulder 38 may be disengaged from the upright 3. This locking'element 2! may be swung about its pivot until a stop 4| engages with a portion of the arm 2|, in which event the spring 34 will hold that look-- i'ng element in an inactive position.

Referring to Figs. '7, 8 and 9, the jack raisin'g cam and its-attached parts have been shown in the position which they occupy relative to the needle cylinder, jacks, etc. The cam l6 projects from the lower end of an arm designated at l! and is normally maintained in an active position as shown in Figs. '7 and 9. A jack 42 has been indicated in Fig. 7 as passing along a cam 43, a series of which extend about the base of the knitting machine as shown in Fig. 10, and at this height would not be engaged by the said cam and thus would not affect the needles in any way; The jack has a series of saw-tooth butts 44 and below these butts whichare used for selection purposes, one larger butt 45. Each of the jacks always has the butt 45 in the position shown but may have one or more of the butts 44 broken away. Above the saw-tooth selector butts there is one rectangular shaped butt 46 which is for the purpose of engaging a cam 41, one of which is included at each separate feeding station, and whereby the jack will be controlled to return to its owermost position even if the cooperating needle should fail to do so.

In oasethere should be some misalignment enemas between parts or for anyreasonone of thefljack butts-45 should pass through'atsuch a. level that it ran into the point of cam 16,;that. cam-:has

been provided with means to allowit. toiswi-ng outwardly so that: no damage may; result. In

the case previously referred to this. cam l6: swung about a single pivot point which forced-the cam to change its relative elevation inreferenceto the jack buttspassing by it. To overcome the evils which resulted from a tendency of the cam to change its proper height and to allow it to move more nearly in a straight line, it has been pivoted at point 48 to an arm'49 which is also pivoted at 50 to a fixed portion of the bracket [8 previously mentioned. This bracket has been attached to the upright at the forward end of the assembly by means of two screws 5|, Fig. 3, which pass through enlarged holes 5|, Fig. 7, in the bracket to provide for a slight adjustment. The adjustment is brought about by means of a pair of adjusting screws 52 which abut against the upper end of upright 2. This adjustment takes care of positioning the cam at the proper height and it may be moved into the proper radial position by means which have been described above. A second arm 53 is also pivoted at a fixed point 54 on an upwardly extending portion of said bracket I8 and is connected to the arm I! by means of a shouldered screw 55. A spring 56 has been attached at the upper end of said arm and also to a pin 51 which is fixed to some suitable part of the assembly.

When in the position shown in Fig. '7, the arm 49 bears upon a horizontal portion of said bracket l8 and for all intents and purposes the cam is stationary. However, when contacted by a butt which is not passing at the proper height 'as in Fig. 8, the tension in spring 56 is easily overcome so that said cam will swing upon the levers or arms 49 and 53 into a position approximately that shown in said figure. The cam itself will remain at about the same elevation so that it will not swing into the path of any other jack butt as might have been possible in the previous construction. A plate 58 has been attached to the bracket l8 just behind a slot in which the arm I! moves so that the swing of the arm will where it will remain vertical when in active position. This plate is provided with a slot for adjustment.

The operation of the device is shown in Figs. 10, 11 and 12 wherein three different possibilities are shown. In Fig. 10 the pathway of needle butts is shown at 59 and the path of selector butts at 60. The lowermost path 6| indicates that which is traveled by the jack butts 45, while the butts 46 would travel in the path indicated at 62. At the first knitting point shown at the right-hand side of the figure, the jacks have not been acted upon to afiect the action of needles in any way. Said jacks have merely passed along over the cam 43 which maintains them at an elevation such as shown in Fig. 7 where they will not be engaged by the following raise cam unless they are selected by one of the plungers. The needles pass through this knitting station to knit and it is not possible with the set-up shown to form any kind of ornamental stitch. A cam 63 raised the needles to the position in which the latches are cleared whereupon they take yarn and knit as they pass down under cam 64. A cam 65 acts to relieve the stitch and to return all the needle butts to a common level.

A selector device such as has been indicated in the previous figures. would be inte posed; b .tweenthis knitting station and siollowing in which case it is likel 4 one x iat some .ers m t: m ely be needles would while;

.caused to miss the yarn in which case floats O l ppear in the; fabric. All ofrthe needle whichv arelto. knit must have at; least-one selector butt. engaged by a plunger sothat the butt willvride upxcam lfi whereun atzheiacks wil elevate their corresponding needles to a latch clearing position which is shown by the upper pathway 66. These needles will draw stitches as they pass under a. stitch cam 61, while the remaining needles will merely. pass along at the lower level not drawing any yarnat this feed.

In the next stage the needle butts which are I not selected will be engaged by a cam 68 which will not raise said needles to a latch clearing height, however, it will raise them high enough to take the yarn in their hooks so that tuck stitches will be formed at the next castingfofi? point. The remaining needles which were selected would take yarn and knit'under cam69 precisely in the same manner in which they did in the previous stage. Each of cams 43 is provided with a recess portion 10 which will allow the butts 45 on the jacks to descend below the upper edge of said cams in' case there is any misalignment, or stitch length is adjusted to such an extent that there would be a lack of clearance.

The device has been described relative to a particular and somewhat specific embodiment of the same but I do not intend to be limited to such a. single embodiment since the device may take. many forms and there may be several changes in the details without departing from the spirit of the invention. The examples which have been used to indicate the manner in which needles or jacks may be controlled are given merely for purposes of illustration and many other uses such as the control of pressers with spring beard needles are well within the scope of the invention.

I do not intend to be limited except by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A selecting device for knitting machines including a support, a plurality of selecting instrumentalities movable within said support to and from positions wherein they engage or fail to engage elements to be selected, means on each element for limiting its movement in either direction and a swinging element common to all of the selecting elements for resiliently retaining some of them in an activeposition and at the same time, looking those which are to be inactive in an inoperative position.

2. A selecting device for knitting machines including a support, a plurality of slidable series of superposed selecting plungers individu- '10 ally slidable in said support, said plungers being movable to and from operative and inoperative positions and means including a single member bodily movable to and from a position to engage a plural number of said plungers to permit re- II @ositiofisand: means including a single pivoted member bodily movable to and-from a position 'to engage a plural number of said plungers to permit reselection thereof and forming a component part of said mechanism for holdingsome plungers in active position, and. at the same time, retaining other plungers in inactive position.

ROBERT H. LAWSON. 

